With reports that the United States Government has admitted that former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks is innocent and his conviction in 2007 for providing material support for terrorism is invalid, Greens Leader Christine Milne has called for the Australian Government to apologise for its part in his wrongful imprisonment, torture and the outrageous abuses of related legal processes.

(i) the recent ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which found that providing material support for terrorism was not a war crime between 1996 and 2001 and therefore could not support a conviction, invalidates David Hicks' conviction for this crime;

The Federal Government and Opposition have continued to reject calls for an independent inquiry into the detention of David Hicks in Guantanamo Bay by voting down a motion from Australian Greens spokesperson for Legal Affairs Senator Penny Wright.

Senator Wright's motion called on the Government to set up an independent inquiry into David Hicks' detention, treatment and trial in US custody and the role of the Australian Government.

The ALP and Coalition today joined together in an act of wilful blindness to vote down a Senate motion noting the recent US Court of Appeals ruling that providing material support for terrorism was not a war crime between 1996 and 2001.

In 2007 David Hicks was retrospectively charged and convicted of providing material support for terrorism within that period and this ruling casts serious doubt over the validity of David Hicks' conviction.

(i) the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently ruled that providing material support for terrorism was not a war crime between 1996 and 2001 and therefore could not support a conviction of Salim Hamdan;

(ii) in 2007, Australian, David Hicks, was convicted of this now invalid charge when he submitted an Alford plea through the US Military Commission system; and

(b) calls on the Government to recognise that there is doubt regarding the validity of David Hicks' conviction.

The Australian Greens today called on the Government to support David Hicks to appeal his US conviction, in the light of Tuesday's US Court of Appeals ruling that the charge he was convicted of is invalid.

Greens spokesperson for Legal Affairs, Senator Penny Wright, said that the decision by the US Court of Appeals confirms the long-held view of many legal commentators that David Hicks' conviction was illegitimate and he should now be given an opportunity to seek repeal of that conviction in a court of law.

In the 2012 Supplementary Estimates period, Senator Penny Wright asked the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee questions about the following issues. Click the links below to read the full transcript.